Vivitar 365 flash unit

I have an old 365 that I still use. Lately the capacitor has been getting h ot. Cap is rated 1800uf 400V The flash works fine except for the heat.

On checking I found that there is 465V on the cap. Even hooking it to a "de ad" battery that only had 8V during charging, the cap still had 430V on it. I believe the cap is getting hot from the overvoltage. I've checked the ca p on a Sencore Z meter, an ESR meter and with an ohm meter and all indicate that it is ok. The Z meter showed a little dielctric absortion but not bad for a cap 30 yrs old and that size. Ohm meter tests in the 50meg I ran ov er all the diodes, resistors and semis that I could recognize. I found one semi in a TO-220 type package that reads 94 ohms between the outside leads. It reads .09 in both directions on a diode test. The tab-center lead reads around 5meg to the other 2 leads and counts up like a capacitor charging. I have searched extensively on the net for info on this device and have fo und nothing. Anyone know what this is and if it's good or bad? My thoughts are that it is used to regulate the voltage applied to the cap and is not w orking. Any and all advice is apprecaited.

Reply to
bhawkes926
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wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com... I have an old 365 that I still use. Lately the capacitor has been getting hot. Cap is rated 1800uf 400V The flash works fine except for the heat.

On checking I found that there is 465V on the cap. Even hooking it to a "dead" battery that only had 8V during charging, the cap still had 430V on it. I believe the cap is getting hot from the overvoltage. I've checked the cap on a Sencore Z meter, an ESR meter and with an ohm meter and all indicate that it is ok. The Z meter showed a little dielctric absortion but not bad for a cap 30 yrs old and that size. Ohm meter tests in the 50meg I ran over all the diodes, resistors and semis that I could recognize. I found one semi in a TO-220 type package that reads 94 ohms between the outside leads. It reads .09 in both directions on a diode test. The tab-center lead reads around 5meg to the other 2 leads and counts up like a capacitor charging. I have searched extensively on the net for info on this device and have found nothing. Anyone know what this is and if it's good or bad? My thoughts are that it is used to regulate the voltage applied to the cap and is not working. Any and all advice is apprecaited.

++++

What is the normal temperature for these caps , presumably when used near continuously. What does a thermometer tell you is the temp of you're one in use. As users don;t experience the heat of these caps , as they're enclosed, maybe its normal. As the volume of these caps is critical to the aesthetics/ergonomics I would not be surprised if they used underated caps, as the way they are used is different to the usual specified application.

Reply to
N_Cook

There's no question the capacitor is being overcharged. This is almost certainly due to failure of the "monitor" circuit that shuts off charging at a particular voltage. This guarantees consistent light output in /manual/ exposure.

You're headed in the right direction, but you're probably going to need a schematic to track down which component or components are defective.

I had this problem with several Polaroid 360 cameras -- but the charging circuit had a pot you could adjust. You might look for one.

Reply to
William Sommerwerck

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote: > I have an old 365 that I still use. Lately the capacitor has been getting hot. Cap is rated 1800uf 400V > The flash works fine except for the heat. > > On checking I found that there is 465V on the cap. Even hooking it to a "dead" battery that only had 8V during charging, the cap still had 430V on it. I believe the cap is getting hot from the overvoltage. I've checked the cap on a Sencore Z meter, an ESR meter and with an ohm meter and all indicate that it is ok. The Z meter showed a little dielctric absortion but not bad for a cap 30 yrs old and that size. Ohm meter tests in the 50meg I ran over all the diodes, resistors and semis that I could recognize. I found one semi in a TO-220 type package that reads 94 ohms between the outside leads. It reads .09 in both directions on a diode test. The tab-center lead reads around 5meg to the other 2 leads and counts up like a capacitor charging. I have searched extensively on the net for info on this device and have found nothing. Anyone know what this is and if it's good or bad? My thoughts are that it is used to regulate the voltage applied to the cap and is not working. Any and all advice is apprecaited.

the to-220 is probably a SCR for the quench circuit, if this flash has one.

it would be connected to a inductor.

Reply to
Cydrome Leader

hot. Cap is rated 1800uf 400V

dead" battery that only had 8V during charging, the cap still had 430V on i t. I believe the cap is getting hot from the overvoltage. I've checked the cap on a Sencore Z meter, an ESR meter and with an ohm meter and all indica te that it is ok. The Z meter showed a little dielctric absortion but not b ad for a cap 30 yrs old and that size. Ohm meter tests in the 50meg I ran over all the diodes, resistors and semis that I could recognize. I found on e semi in a TO-220 type package that reads 94 ohms between the outside lead s. It reads .09 in both directions on a diode test. The tab-center lead rea ds around 5meg to the other 2 leads and counts up like a capacitor charging . I have searched extensively on the net for info on this device and have found nothing. Anyone know what this is and if it's good or bad? My thought s are that it is used to regulate the voltage applied to the cap and is not working. Any and all advice is apprecaited.

The handle of the flash unit where the cap is housed gets so hot you can't hang on to it. That's what prompted me to take it apart.

I have put the cap back on the Z meter and one an intensive leakage test on it. The meter has 396V across the cap (measured with an external DVM) and is only showing 440 microamps of current through the cap and it's cool afte r 15-20 minutes of this voltage applied. No signs of heating at all. It app ears the cap survived being over heated/charged drastically. I have no ide a how they monitor/regulate the voltage. The circuitry is pretty simple wit h no processors or logic involved that I have found. I'm beginning to doub t if the 3JM device is involved in that control, but I still don't know.

Reply to
Bruce Hawkes

hot. Cap is rated 1800uf 400V

dead" battery that only had 8V during charging, the cap still had 430V on i t. I believe the cap is getting hot from the overvoltage. I've checked the cap on a Sencore Z meter, an ESR meter and with an ohm meter and all indica te that it is ok. The Z meter showed a little dielctric absortion but not b ad for a cap 30 yrs old and that size. Ohm meter tests in the 50meg I ran over all the diodes, resistors and semis that I could recognize. I found on e semi in a TO-220 type package that reads 94 ohms between the outside lead s. It reads .09 in both directions on a diode test. The tab-center lead rea ds around 5meg to the other 2 leads and counts up like a capacitor charging . I have searched extensively on the net for info on this device and have found nothing. Anyone know what this is and if it's good or bad? My thought s are that it is used to regulate the voltage applied to the cap and is not working. Any and all advice is apprecaited.

There is a pot on the one circuit board. It is not labeled. I turned it 1/8 turn, fired the flash and let it recharge and the voltage was the same. I will do some more checking in that area to see if I can find anything. I w asn't sure what the pot would be for. It would stand to reason that it woul d be a voltage control, but it didn't see to do much when I turned it.

Reply to
Bruce Hawkes

It might be calibration for the auto flash. Can't hurt to experiment.

Reply to
William Sommerwerck

l

Did you measure the voltages on either side of the TO220 device? I'm thinking that if it were some type of regulator , (with an "in" or "out") then you might get a clue from seeing what that looks like. Maybe the pot controls gate current. Lenny

Reply to
klem kedidelhopper

I checked a manual for a 365. it is a "thyristor" model.

Any beefy device on the HV side will be a SCR as I said earlier, and in series with an inductor. The voltage across it will match that of the storage cap.

Reply to
Cydrome Leader

TO-220 device is almost certainly the thyristor. It sits between the storage capacitor and the flash tube. It's normally "on". When the auto-exposure circuit determines that correct exposure has been obtained, the thyristor is shut off, killing the flash tube's output.

Reply to
William Sommerwerck

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